: Re: How to write disorientation with sensory overload? My character has super-senses, so anything that we feel, see, hear, etc. are heightened for him. So much so that when a flash bomb is set

@Karen856

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I think that communicating extremes of physical situations are very challenging for writers, because of the inherent contradiction. The page of text can't be overwhelming in itself, not like a movie can.

This means that to really communicate disorientation, you need to really have your audience hooked on the character so they want to empathize and share their experiences.

I think one technique to use dichotomy or comparison to relate the experience. If all along through your story, you've consistently related or established the character's physical sensations as they are using their talent, and the audience is at the point were they understand what sense they are engaging by just the physical sensations the character is experiences, then you are in a good position to start throwing everything out of whack with the flash-bang.

And, you can even throw in some synesthesia showing that nerve impulses are overflowing their brain regions and sounds are stimulating taste, and sight is flooding into touch.

But, I think this only works if the audience is already thinking in terms of your characters unique physiological responses as they relate to the normal use of his super senses.
Just making stuff up as examples --

his ears tickle as he strains to hear faintest sounds
his eyes get scratchy if he trying to look a really small things, but feel hard and stony when it looks at things really far away

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